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DC: 2012-03-15 - Dedrick's 'Date'
Dedrick arrives at Kara's house. It's a pretty nice house. One can see there are lots of cameras. And probably a lot more that you can't see. After all, when Batman bought it for her to live in as Kara Zor-El, rather than as some secret identity, he likely wanted to make it secure, so who knows what sort of weaponry is set up. Not that Kara needs to worry usually about that sort of thing, but Batman's Batman. Paranoid to the extreme. When you ring the bell, Kara answers wearing an oversized T-shirt and pajama pants. There's also a cat in the background, currently trying to climb the curtains. The place is not obscenely messy, but it isnt exactly clean either. Basically all the signs that it's lived in by a teenager. One particular thing of note is Superman's cape, which is neatly folded up on the front end-table. "Oh... Hi Dedrick, come in?" Dedrick parks his car out in front of the house and walks up to the door. He takes note of several cameras and survellance equipment, but he also figures there are cameras that he's not seeing. And with no super senses, he's as oblivious to them as any other human. After ringing the doorbell he waits patiently for Kara to open the door, and when she does, he offers her a smile. "Hey, Kara. I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by to see how you were doing." At the invitation to enter, he steps across the threshold and into the house proper. He looks around and grins. "Nice place. Looks a lot like my apartment." He jokes. Kara Zor-El looks around at her house. "Oh... sorry for the mess. Come in?" She open the door more for Dedrick, thne closes it behind you. "Yeah um... Batman got it for me since... you know, don't actually have a lot of money. Two hours of waitressing a week doesn't really do much, and I've been told to not make diamonds unless it's an emergency." Yeah she could always do stuff like that, couldnt she? Dedrick chuckles as he takes a seat. "It's hard to believe that superheroes need money just like the rest of us, but I guess it's true." He studies her for a long moment, eyes flickering over to the folded cape and then back to her. "I've been watching a lot of television lately, Kara. Saw something that just set wrong with me recently. Want to talk about it?" Kara Zor-El sighs. "okay." She heads over to the couch and sits down on it, curling up her legs a bit. Dedrick holds up a hand. "If it's personal, just tell me to shut up about it, and I will. But as your friend, I think I know you well enough by now to know that what your cousin did has definitely got to be getting to you. If there's some stuff you want to get off your chest, you know I'm a good listener." Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "He did it because I quit being Supergirl." she says. "And I told him he cared about the S more than me." She blahs a bit. Dedrick raises both brows. "What!?" He exclaims. "Kara, I...why would you do something like that?" Kara Zor-El frowns. "Because after he found out about what I did while under red kryptonite, he said I had ruined the trust with the people, ruined the name of Supergirl, and that I've disgraced myself. Then told me that my feelings about it didnt matter, and that I should turn myself into go to jail, even though no charges were filed against me yet." She pauses. "So I quit being Supergirl. Then he came over with Starfire to talk me out of it, and I told him I wanted him to apologize for what he said, and he apologized for some of it, then said I still broke the trust of the public." She runs her hand through her hair fidgetty, "So I told him that trust can't be broken if you don't even have any free will when you're doing it, pointed out what HE'S done while under red kryptonite, like declaring himself king and almost executing people, or almost crushing Batman's skull, or destroying a city, or burning a forest.... and told him he was a hypocrite, and that he didnt care about me as much as he cared about the legacy of the S." She looks around at the cape. "So he left. Next thing I know he's making a press conference. I don't believe this is happening." Dedrick exhales softly. "Wow. I remember some of that stuff vaguely. But you guys can't help what red kryptonite makes you do, just like you can't help that the green stuff kills you. I don't want to judge either one of you, but I would say that quitting is not the best thing to do. You need to show the people that you're willing to stand up and take responsibility for what you did. Sure, some people are going to talk, but you can't let that stop you. You're more than just a hero. You're a symbol..and I'm not just talking about the S. You and Kal-El are the standard that the rest of us aspire to. You set the bar for us. You inspire us. You make us want to be better than we are. Kara, neither one of you can quit. If Superman was here, I'd say the same thing to him, too." Kara Zor-El sighs. "I just wish he hadnt been acting so HYPOCRITICAL! I wouldn't have said anything if he treated my actions like others treated his. He made it like I did something worse than he did... and he did pretty bad stuff. Why did he have to go and do something like that? I mean both what he said to me in the first place AND the whole quitting being Superman thing." She shakes her head and rubs her temples. "He's just so stubborn sometimes. Like my mother. Or Uncle Jor-El." Dedrick shrugs slightly. "Only he can answer that for you. And you're pretty stubborn yourself, you know." He grins. "Much as you don't like to admit it, you are more like him than you realize." Kara Zor-El looks at Dedrick with a teensy bit of a smirk. "Hey. I can totally 'own' you, you know." She rolls her eyes. "Maybe a little like him." she says, putting her finger and thumb together to denote something really small. Kara Zor-El then hangs her head. "I'll talk to him." Dedrick grins. "I know you can totally own me. And despite that I'm always gonna shoot you straight, Kara. Because that's what friends do." He nods. "I think you should. If you like, I can come with you for moral support." Kara Zor-El peers at Dedrick. "You want to meet him don't you." Dedrick smiles widely. "Well, yeah. But I want to be there for you, too. Can't I kill two birds with one stone?" Kara thinks, then says, "Um... well... how about I talk to him in private first... some things I need to say which are sorta secret." Yeah, not like she can talk about his secret identity and Lois and stuff like that with a third party who isnt 'in the know' present. "But I could introduce him to you after this is cleared up?" Dedrick spreads his hands. "Sure, whatever you want. Just make sure that you talk to him and listen to him too. Try to see it from his perspective. Okay?" Kara Zor-El slides off the couch and walks over. "I'll -think- about that last part." She pauses, then says, "Cmon, you're taking me out to lunch okay?" Dedrick stands up. "It'd be my pleasure." He guestures towards the door. "My car's out front, just tell me what you're in the mood for." Kara Zor-El smiles. "Don't know. Surprise me." She heads to the door, though she's still wearing her PJ pants and oversized shirt. Dedrick chuckles as he walks out behind her. "Kara, if you ever decide to stop dating Solarflare, I am totally going to ask you out." Once outside, he opens the door for her, and then slips behind the wheel of the convertable. Kara Zor-El pauses. "Oh wait..." Burst of superspeed, she's gone. Then back a second later wearing some casual clothes, and she gets into the car. He comments as he pulls out into traffic. "Italian sounds good...there's a place not too terribly far from here." "Italian like pizza and stuff?" she asks as he pulls out and starts driving. Dedrick nods. "Yep. Pizza and stuff." He shifts as he speeds up slightly to get around a slower moving car. "Do you have a favorite food? Heck, do you even need to eat?" Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "Well from what I've read, I don't -need- to. I mean, I can't say I've ever been hungry since I came to Earth. I -like- to eat though. Hot dogs are great. So's pizza. Oh and ice cream. Rao, ice cream is so good. Earth has a lot of good foods. It's sort of like with sleeping, I don't need to sleep technically, I mean... except for dreaming. I need to still enter REM sleep or I suppose that I could go crazy just like any human being would. But it's not like I get tired or need to eat or stuff." Kara Zor-El leans over. "I mean... technically speaking I just use sunlight. That's pretty much all I need. Higher wavelength sunlight, that is. Red sunlight wavelengths don't do enough except to keep us alive at, you know, human levels. So then I'd need to eat and stuff." Dedrick takes all this in and nods slowly. "Kryptonian physiology is simply facinating. So you eat and sleep because you like to, not because you have to. Wish I could do that. Sleep cuts into the time I could be out patrolling." You say, "Well... I mean we still have to enter REM state though. Just... maybe every few months. I guess. I'm not really sure, I haven't personally tried and all I'm going on is what Kal told me. Any conscious mind needs to be able to dream. I mean, on Krypton, there's a point where you enter this lucid dreaming state called Tarukor. It's something you do right before you reach adulthood. I haven't personally experienced it though. Not sure if I missed it because of the whole suspended animation, to be honest." She pauses, then continues. "It's just the sleep part that isnt really needed. But it's nice. Relaxing." She looks over at you. "Of course I'm talking about when not on a planet with a red sun. On Krypton, my father had to prod me to get out of bed for my studies... astrophysics, quantum theory, math, biology, xenobiology, linguistics, seismology, mineralogy, quantum phyiscs, psychology, Kryptonian history, Klukor and other combat training..." Dedrick slows down to take a turn, shifting down and then shifting up to speed back up. "It makes me curious. How would a red sun affect a human? I mean, we're normal under our sun, well, some of us. And it turns you into a goddess. Wonder what I'd be like on your home planet." Kara Zor-El shakes her head. "Um... from what I know of human physiology, it wouldnt affect you at all. Maybe give you a headache from the light wavelengths. I mean... maybe it'll affect you negatively because of the higher gravity - Krypton has... er... had... more mass than the Earth. Not sure, to be honest. You see... it's just part of Kryptonian biology - we take in sunlight. The higher the light frequency wavelength, the more power we have in reserve. Red sunlight has such a low light frequency is only gives us enough to have an output of roughly what human beings have. Orange is better, yellow's well... you've seen. Not even sure what white and blue would do, let alone stuff like binary and trinary star systems." Dedrick ahs. "So I'd likely still have my powers on Krypton just like I do on Earth." He glances over and grins. "Cool." He admits. "You know, when I was a kid, I was a huge Star Trek fan. I used to want to be an astronaut so I could go out and explore new worlds and stuff." He laughs. "The dreams of kids, huh?" Kara Zor-El nods a little and shrugs. "Well since I don't know how your powers work, I'd assume so, unless the higher gravity did something. Then again, it's a moot question - Krypton's gone." She pauses and nods. "What's Star Trek by the way?" she asks as she looks around as you drive. Dedrick winces slightly. "Well, I know Krypton's gone. I was just imagining..and I'm sorry if I dredged up some painful memories." He chuckles. "I'm just beginning to figure out how my powers work. That doctor friend that you sent me to...she's working to figure out why I can do what I can do. And the best way to treat me if I get hurt." At the question about Star Trek, Dedrick looks at her like she's crazy, then he remembers that she's not from here. "It's a television show where this crew of people of every race come together as a Federation of Planets. Their mission is to seek out strange new worlds and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before. Believe it or not, a lot of the inventions we enjoy today were inspired by that show...like the cellphone." Kara Zor-El nods slowly. "So... sort of like the Green Lantern Corps?" She pauses. "Wait, so are they boldly going where no one has gone before, or seeking new civilizations?" Dedrick says, "That part refers to boldly going where no human has gone before, Kara." Dedrick explains. "The seeking new civilizations part was what was most important." Kara Zor-El nods slowly. "Then why don't they say 'where no human has gone before?' Dedrick says, "Because you assume the human part, since the crew was mostly human at the time and the ship itself was from Earth." He grins as he pulls into the parking lot of Joe's Italian Resturant. He finds a parking space and gets out of the car, moving to open the door for Kara. "It's a classic. You'll have to come over to my place sometime. I have almost every episode on BluRay."" Kara Zor-El nods a little and gets out of the car when you pull up to the restaurant. "Um, ok that sounds like it would be fun." Then pauses after getting out of the car. Again, a burst of superspeed, and she's back a few seconds later with something in her hand. "Okay let's go in." Dedrick closes his eyes at the gust of wind, but when he opens them, she's back. He blinks. "I'll never get used to that." Shaking his head, he opens the door for her and then follows her in. After looking around for a sec, he moves towards a table. Elsewhere, a couple in an alley hold each other confused. One second they were going to be mugged by some guy pointing a gun at them. The next second, he's hanging upside down from a fire escape latter which has been twisted around his legs, his gun gone. Kara tosses the crushed gun in her hand into the garbage before walking into the restaurant, first saying "Thank you." to Dedrick for opening the door. "Looks nice" she says, looking around in the waiting area. Dedrick is oblivious to wherever it was that Kara went to. After entering the place and finding a seat, he pulls out a chair for the blonde teen and then sits down himself. As he waits for a server to come to the table, Dedrick looks at Kara and asks, "So, where'd you zip off to?" Kara Zor-El sits down at the table. "Oh nowhere special. Just saw I had to do something quickly." She looks at the menu. "Oh everything looks really good. What's Chicken Parmesan like? Is it like pizza?" Dedrick shakes his head. "Um..no. It's chicken and cheese..mostly. If you'd like to try something different than pizza, by all means. Order whatever you wish." He flashes a smile. Kara Zor-El nods. "Sounds good." She pauses. "Wait, Chicken Parmesan hero?" She hrms. "I'm not really into theme stuff." Dedrick ahems. "Hero is a type of sandwich." He chuckles under his breath as he holds up the menu to cover his face, laughning softly. Kara Zor-El looks at the menu. "Oh.... OH!" she nods. She's a genius, but they never taught Earth cuisine nomenclature on Krypton with the advanced physics and math and biology, apparently. She smiles. "It's a reasonable mistake. I went to this one restaurant called Planet Herowood where the waiters and waitresses were all dressed like superheroes. And there was this one who dressed like me and our waiter was dressed like Batman and he tried flirting with me and... it was just weird." Dedrick blinks at that. "Where was this place located? I've never been there before." He smiles at the waitress when she comes by. "I'll have a salad and then a medium sausage and cheese pizza with hand tossed crust. And a diet coke." He looks at Kara, waiting for her to order. Kara Zor-El thinks. "North Hollywood. I mean the food's okay but it's just really weird to watch someone dressed like you flirting at other tables, while Batman winks at you." She shivers a bit. She looks at the waitress. "Chicken Parmesan Hero, the sandwich kind please. And a Dr. Pepper please." Dedrick stiffles a laugh when Kara orders and then hands over the menus when the waitress leaves. Their drink orders are immediately filled, however they'll have to wait a bit on the meal. Dedrick comments. "So, catch any difficult baddies lately? Kara Zor-El tilts her head. "Well.... not difficult but ..." She thinks. "well last week I helped Captain Marvel beat up some demon. Oh.. and 3 days ago, some space mercenaries with giant robots attacked me. Still not sure what that was about." Dedrick whines into his drink. "I miss /all/ the good stuff." Kara smiles at Dedrick a little, "Well in my defense, the demon thing was in Japan.... and while the space mercenaries were in Metropolis I think they were looking to attack me specifically. Or Kal. Probably Kal. Though one of them said they weren't getting paid enough and some other stuff." Dedrick ahs. "Well, still. I would have liked to have helped out on that one. Course it'd take me a little longer to get to Japan, but I digress. So, everything ok with the Titans?" Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "I haven't really talked to most of them except for Shenlong and Starfire since I quit the whole Supergirl thing." Dedrick hmms. "Starfire I know. But I don't think I know who Shenlong is. What are his powers like?" Kara Zor-El shakes her head. "Oh Shenlong doesn't have any powers. He's like... you know. he does kung fu and stuff." She shrugs. Dedrick ahs. "He's like Batman and Nightwing. Gotcha." As the food arrives, he begins to eat his salad as he asks. "How did you get with the Titans anyways?" Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "Nightwing was apparently trying to get me to join for a while and he invited me over to see the Tower and I liked the people there so... yeah." She tilts her head as she looks around to watch through the walls at the food being prepared. "Pretty sure it was just because of who my cousin is." Dedrick munches on his salad. "Why do you think that? You can't attribute all of your accomplishments to who your cousin is." Kara Zor-El shrugs as she watches you eat your salad. "Why not? I didn't really have much of a reputation except to have almost killed the Justice League. Oh and Lex Luthor. Not really a stellar reputation." She pauses, then adds, "Black Kryptonite. Always something, apparently." She again watches the food preparation through the walls. "Not to mention I attribute my costume and even name to him. As well as the reason for getting into superheroics. I'm a science guild, not warrior guild." Dedrick says, "Okay, so maybe he helped you establish yourself. His reputation got you on the team, but your actions kept you there." He pauses to take a sip of his diet coke. "My point is, the way you talk, it's like you define yourself through him. I'm just trying to get you to see that you have a lot to offer, even if you were never attributed to Superman." Kara Zor-El waits while the chicken parm hero is served, "Thank you." she says, then waits for the waitress to leave, then responds. "Do you know why I came to Earth in the first place? The whole story behind how I did?" Dedrick shakes his head. "Not really. I think you told me once that you were stuck in a capsule or something." Kara Zor-El nods. "Remember the kryptonite meteor that almost destroyed the planet last year? The one that Batman went up in a rocket to destroy?" Dedrick nods. "Yeah, I remember it. It was all over the news and stuff." He begins munching on his pizza after it arrives and gets a refill on his diet coke. "What about it?" Kara Zor-El takes a bite of the hero, then raises her hand. "Mmgh." She stops, then swallows. "That was me." She puts down the sandwich and sips her soda. "My ship got caught in the explosion and got encased by a large chunk of Krypton. Luckily it was able to take the blast, was lead lined, and had yellow sunlight generators on for the entire 32 + years. The ship crashed into Gotham Bay." She leans over. "Weren't you curious why I'm just turning 17 while Kal's been here for decades? When Krypton blew up a long time ago?" Kara Zor-El picks up a french fry. "You see, I was supposed to arrive at the same time Kal did and the fact that my body was absorbing years of yellow sunlight before I even reached Earth was so that I could protect him and raise him. I mean havent you wondered why I'm a little stronger and a lot faster? I think my father did something to me. Or maybe my mother. I dunno. To make me more capable of protecting Kal-El, maybe. Of course, that didn't happen because I got caught in that meteor and it took so long for me to get here. Once I did he was already an adult and twice my age. So I don't really have that much to offer. The whole point of my surviving Krypton's destruction is a moot one." Kara Zor-El pops the fry in her mouth. Dedrick nods. "Yeah, I admit I did wonder about that. But so what? So the original reason your parents sent you here is moot. Find a different reason to be here. I don't claim to understand Kryptonian family politics, but I do know that you're here now. And despite the situation with Kal-El, you have a life here. You're a valued member of a team, you have a boyfriend who loves you. You have friends. What else do you need?" Kara Zor-El shrugs. "An identity that I came up with myself?" Kara Zor-El taps another fry against the plate. "Kal associates himself with Earth because he was raised here. Jor-El and Lara were his parents but it's more genetically than in a real parental sense. I mean.... his parents on Earth raised him - they're his parents in the real, appreciable sense. They raised him, made him who he is. Sorry, can't tell you who." She pauses. "But anyway, he had an entire childhood and adulthood to figure out who he is supposed to be on this planet. I've had 9 months. Half of which have had me either locked away on Themyscira getting trained by Wonder Woman and the Amazons, in the Fortress of Solitude getting examined by Batman and Kal, or... oh joy... being brainwashed by Darkseid and trained to kill my cousin and conquer planets. So not that much time to figure out what I want to do. Main reason I decided to be Supergirl was because Kal's shown he is comfortable on Earth as Superman. Thought it would work for me too." Dedrick says, "Hasn't it been? I mean, I'm betting that Kal doesn't spend all of his time in that suit he wears. Take it from me. I wear a costume so that I can have that 'ordinary' life that people want." Kara Zor-El shrugs. "Yeah, but with Kal, Superman is the disguise. His 'secret identity' is more who he is. It's like he's a human who happens to have been born on another planet. I have a lot of trouble with being able to do the same thing. My parents didnt raise me to learn how to fit in here on Earth." Dedrick picks up another slice of pizza and nibbles on it. "What if someone gave you lessons on how to be human? Fitting in is more than knowing the lingo or the pop culture. It's about finding what you like to do and doing it." Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "T... Shenlong's been trying to help me a bit with talking more street. I'm down with it. I think." Dedrick laughs at the 'I'm down with it' and shakes his head. "Hey, that was even spoken in the correct context. You're a genius, Kara. Getting this stuff down shouldn't be all that hard for you." Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "Pop culture isn't really as much about intelligence as it is about experience. Got a lot of the former, very little of the latter." She takes another bite of the chicken parm hero. "This is delicious, you know." Dedrick grins. "I told you. You should try the pizza.." He takes a slice from his plate and offers it to her. "...the one thing to remember the most is try not to let it stress you out. And...you might want to think about trying another look. Maybe change your hair color, or something when you're not being 'Supergirl'. Kara Zor-El shakes her head as she puts down the hero and picks up the slice to munch on it. She nods happily at that. Must be good to have a super metabolism to keep a figure like that when you eat junk food all the time. "I don't know about a wig. I actually have a secret identity... I just don't really use it that much. It feels so fake. Hate wearing wigs or disguises. I feel like I'm betraying my planet... saying I don't want to be anything related to them anymore. I mean, Diana doesn't use a secret identity. She's proud of her history and doesn't go pretending to be someone else." Kara Zor-El says, "she hasnt created the Linda Lang identity yet because we don't have a Lana Lang PC :) Her secret ID is Kara Kent :) Which she also doesn't use much. She's considering using it in case she decides to go to college. Or maybe trying Claire Connors - but that name she might wind up ruining :) Dedrick shakes his head. "You're not Diana. She's not the one that's wanting to have a normal life and fit in with the other people on Earth. All I'm saying is that you should think about it. Going out as Kara Zor-El would have to stop. You'd have the 'secret identity' and Supergirl. You stick to that, and you can have both. That's what I did." Kara Zor-El nods a little as she eats the pizza really fast. "i'll think about it. But first I have to let Kal know that he shouldnt quit being Superman. The world needs him a lot more." She goes back to the hero once the slice is gone. She plowed through that thing. Dedrick blinks. "Healthy appetite you have there, Kara." He smirks and then continues eating. "Well, what do you want to do after we finish here?" Kara Zor-El nods smiling. "Like I said, don't need to eat but like to." She takes another bite, then swallows and says, "I don't know. I was thinking of going to see Kal to talk him out of giving up Superman ... but I don't know. Maybe you can show me Star Trek." Dedrick shrugs. "Sure. But don't you think you might want to talk to him while everything you want to say to him is still fresh on your mind?" Kara Zor-El looks at Dedrick. "You're assuming I have even the slightest idea of what to say. I need to think of what to say first." And another bite. For such a slender thing she really can pack away food. Dedrick smirks. "Okay, but you do realize my apartment is in Metropolis, right?" Not a problem for either of them, really, but he wasn't quite ready to leave the city just yet. "Not that it's an issue for either of us for that matter." Kara Zor-El nods a little. "So... 2000 miles... I mean that's only like 10 minutes even if you only fly at mach 10." Going slow... "Like you said ... not a big issue. Why, is there somewhere else you want to go first?" Kara Zor-El finishes off her hero, then gets up and walks around to give you a hug. "Thanks for lunch. Tell you what, when you want to show me Star Trek, let me know. Maybe after I fix this thing with Kal?" Dedrick nods as he rises to his feet, hugging her back. "It's a date. Let me know how it turns out with him." He gives her a chaste peck on the cheek. "Stay strong, Kara." He goes ahead and pays the bill for lunch and then heads out towards his car. Kara Zor-El smiles. "Thanks. Staying strong... Well at least that's something you know I'm good at." She heads out of the restaurant with you and flies off instead of taking the car.